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"Get your facts first, and then you can distort them as much as you please." (Mark Twain)

Thursday, December 16, 2004

Let's Lay Off Ol' "Cue-Ball," Shall We?

The Bernard Kerik train wreck continues apace. Josh Marshall notes that the infamous nanny - the undocumented one, who never got her payroll taxes paid by her scatterbrained (but otherwise manly, resolute, and altogether admirable) employer - very possibly never even existed. This is interesting, of course, because it was the nanny, and not the alleged mob ties, the shameless war profiteering, the bigamy, the serial adultery, the restraining order, the arrest warrant, or the publicly-funded love nest overlooking Ground Zero, which cost Our Bernie a cabinet appointment.

Fine. Now let's give it a rest.

I understand why liberals want to hammer on this particular subject, because it symbolizes so much about the Junta and its myriad, um, "shortcomings." The incompetence, the hypocrisy, the arrogance represented by the Bernard Kerik fiasco make an irresistable target for those of us in the Reality-Based Community. Still, we must resist the urge to keep piling on. The story's done; let's put it to bed.

Most of America has missed the salacious details of Bernard Kerik's checkered career, and is no longer interested in him now that his nomination has been withdrawn. At this point, our obsession with his pathetic past looks like sheer meanness. It also looks like we can't let go of history - which hurts us in much the same way that dredging up old stories about stolen elections hurts us with that segment of the public more interested in Scott Peterson and America's Next Top Model than in the imminent demise of Social Security.

Besides, it's not like we don't have plenty of live controversies to address - the aforementioned disemboweling of Social Security, noxious tax policies, tort "reform," etc. After all, it's not like we hear Republicans go on and on about Jim Wright and Dan Rostenkowski, do we? Of course not. They're fighting tomorrow's battles, while we're celebrating yesterday's victories. And this is a big part of why they win elections and legislative crusades that were ours to lose. We've got to smarten up.

So, go read Josh's post, and remember one last time what a schmuck Bernard Kerik really is. Absorb the lesson there, about what an incompetent boob Chimpy was to ever have nominated him. Then - forget about it. We have bigger suckfish to fry.

Update: I just realized I misspoke above when I mentioned a "restraining order." The fact is, wingnut publisher and Kerik love monkey Judith Regan did not obtain a restraining order against Bernard Kerik. Instead, she retained a bodyguard. That's completely different, and I apologize for my error.